VIDEO: Dedicated to saving tigers, fighting wildlife crime in India

The International Fund for Animal Welfare - Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) trains and equips frontline staff across the country under its Van Rakshak (also known as the Guardians of the Wild) Project to better build their capacity to save tigers and other wildlife of India.

To date over 13,000 individual frontline staff have been trained and equipped.

One of IFAW-WTI's priority areas is the Central Indian tiger landscape that holds 6% of the world's wild tiger population.

More than 300 Pench Tiger Reserve (both core and buffer) staff were trained by IFAW-WTI in May-June, 2014. Some of these staff had undergone the training earlier and the course offered a refresher, while others - especially those from buffer areas - were freshly trained.

The Van Rakshak Project has now begun efforts to build a cadre of trainers from diverse fields and regions, to address the diverse languages spoken by the frontline staff from different parts of India.

The IFAW-WTI Wildlife Crime Prevention Training of Trainers picks out potential trainers - wildlife experts from various fields, and hones their skills to help them effectively transfer their knowledge on to the frontline staff through the Van Rakshak Project.

This Training of Trainers session was held in Periyar Tiger Reserve in south Indian state of Kerala between 13-15, June, 2014.

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To learn more about IFAW's efforts to save tigers around the world, click here.